


dr. mills will see you now

by ninzied



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Doctor AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-04-24 08:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19169365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninzied/pseuds/ninzied
Summary: based on the prompt: OQ playing doctor





	1. Chapter 1

it's the first time he's had to take roland to the children's ER, and he can't say he'd be keen on ever doing it again. it's noisy, for one, and – really quite snotty, for another, but more than anything he's frankly embarrassed. the nurse up front recognizes him right away (he's been to more than his fair share of work parties), and ushers them in under vip status, saying in a conspiratorial manner that dr. mills will be with them soon.

she's there within ten minutes, looking mock-sternly at them both from the doorway.

"regina!" crows roland perched on the bed, and he looks far too pleased with himself, all things considered.

"he's a little old to be putting things in his ears," robin tells her by way of hello, feeling more than a little bit sheepish. "not sure what's gotten into him today. he won't tell me what it was, either."

"well, let's take a look, shall we?" regina plucks an instrument from the wall, and it lights up as she puts a plastic bit on the end. roland perks up straight away, legs kicking the air in anticipation, and robin could swear he's never seen him this excited to be at the doctor's before.

regina pauses by robin, bending down to press a swift kiss to his cheek.

"hi," she whispers.

"sorry to bother you at your workplace," he smiles ruefully back.

she crouches down in front of roland, who's ready and waiting to have that light shined into his ear. "now what do we have here?" regina asks, looking playful. "a dinosaur? or maybe—" she drops her voice to something quite spooky "—a shark?"

"nope," says roland, gleefully.

and then, as robin sits watch in his chair, regina's eyes widen, the rest of her going very still.

robin frowns. "why, what is it?"

"just one moment," she says evasively, and then she's pulling out some other tool from her pocket, like a pair of oddly shaped scissors that grip at the end instead of cutting through things. "sweetheart, can you hold still for me?"

"uh huh," says roland, and he's full on grinning now.

robin looks suspiciously at him, but he merely looks ahead, wincing only a little while regina retrieves what's been inside his ear.

"any idea where this might've come from?" regina asks, sounding amused, and she holds her forceps out to robin. there, clutched at the tip, is a tiny plastic ring – the toy kind that comes out of those machines roland's always hankering after whenever they're just leaving the store.

"i…have an inkling, yes."

it's – quite small, looks like it could barely even fit around a pencil eraser let alone one of regina's fingers. but robin takes it anyway, chuckling in disbelief to himself as regina sweeps a fond hand through roland's hair.

"this was not at all the way i've imagined asking you, but—"

he's silenced with a kiss as regina stands on her toes and pulls him against her, the sound of roland's cheering the only other thing he can register for a moment.

they part, both smiling a ridiculous amount, as roland pipes up, demanding to know. "so? was that a yes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to post in response to a curious cat prompt but - i guess sometimes curious cat doesn't like to cooperate, so i'm putting it here instead. if there's any interest in seeing more from this verse just send me something on [twitter](https://twitter.com/persnickets) or [tumblr](http://ninzied.tumblr.com) and i'll see what i can do!


	2. Chapter 2

in the time that she’s been here at storybrooke children’s general, regina has never been up to the fourth floor. it’s a miracle that she’s never had a reason to be – working in the ER is its own little world, and when the specialists are needed, they come to her, not the other way around.

she just never thought she’d need them for something like _this_.

she checks in at the front desk of the intensive care unit, and experiences a moment of quiet disconcertion when the nurse looks straight through her, unsmiling, even when regina flashes the front of her work badge at her.

she’s so used to being _known_ in this hospital, to being greeted like she’s practically royalty – and maybe down in the ER she is, but up here on floor four she’s just like any other family member. just like any other mom.

she’s also never shown up to work in her actual pajamas before (scrubs don’t count, comfortable as they may be). but regina supposes there’s a first time for most things, if you’re lucky enough to avoid all the others.

she really thought they were, and perhaps that was her first mistake.

…

she’d gotten the call while on her way to pick up henry from his school field trip. she’d asked off that whole weekend, and their schedule was jam-packed, starting with ice cream and a trip to the park that friday afternoon, to celebrate the end of his chemo.

“regina?” it was the nursing manager, who could best be described as a gentle tyrant on most days, but on that day in particular there was something different about her tone – something even ingratiatingly softer than usual – that regina should’ve caught on to sooner.

“mary margaret,” she sighed right away, “i’m off today, remember? and i’m not on call either, so there’s no way you could possibly convince me to come in.”

“actually, regina…”

henry had collapsed from what they thought was heat exhaustion, at first – but he had a high fever when he came in, and then his pressures had plummeted before they could get the first dose of antibiotics in.

his cancer course had been such a lucky one until then – no trips to the PICU, mostly outpatient visits for all his chemo infusions – that regina had let her guard down. she’d tempted fate and left them vulnerable to its cruel twists.

she’d done this to him.

she’d done this.

…

the walk to his room still hasn’t gotten any easier.

some of the nurses have finally started to recognize her, at least.

there’s one – small and slender, blonde, with a knack for making regina roll her eyes with her constant optimism, her earnestness – who keeps getting assigned to henry on her night shifts. her name is tink – regina can only assume that’s short for _some_ thing – and she has to remind herself it doesn’t matter what she thinks, because henry likes her, and she makes him smile.

plus, regina supposes that she’s halfway decent at her job.

he’s still on the IV antibiotics while they wait for his blood cultures to come back. dr. nolan has taken to calling her with updates, on the mornings she’s been stuck downstairs and unable to make it to rounds. he stops by in person on the nights he’s on call, though, and just the previous evening had told her with some chagrin that they’d still been unable to wean henry’s norepinephrine drip.

“i feel fine though, mom,” said henry confidently from his bed, looking for all the world like it was just another day, despite the fact that tink had just had to put a nasal cannula back on him.

dr. nolan had stuck around to make small talk, finally hedging around to the question she’d been waiting for him to ask her: “so how is, um, everyone, down there? in the ER?”

“fine,” said regina, giving him a pointed look, “are you inquiring after someone in particular?” and he had blushed furiously before saying he’d come back by in the morning to check on how henry was doing.

she makes a mental note to decline mary margaret’s offer to come check on them – “anything you need, regina, just say the word” – yet again. that’s the last kind of distraction she needs at the moment.

they’ve been careful about having other visitors, too. mother has been breathing down her neck about flying in from boston, but for regina’s sake as much as henry’s, not to mention the rest of the hospital staff, she’d insisted her mother not go to the trouble unless henry’s condition changed.

henry’s school teacher has chaperoned some of his classmates in twos, but regina sees the exhaustion on him, trying to keep a brave face for all his friends, and suggests they plan a bigger party for later once he’s back at home.

“that sounds good, mom,” he tells her, and it breaks her heart just a little to see him give her that same, brave smile before she tucks him in for the night.

there’s one visitor that neither of them see coming.

she’s just finished up her own overnight shift, and makes her way up to the fourth floor, ready to kiss henry good night – or good morning, to be technical about it – before collapsing into the fold-out chair beside him.

she doesn’t stop for coffee; she can’t recall if the cafeteria opens this early on weekends, and the stuff they serve there is terrible anyway. if tink is still around, maybe she’ll sneak her some from the break room.

regina’s half on the lookout for her, so she’s somewhat distracted when she stops outside room 23 – and she thinks she’s imagining things for a moment.

there, sitting on the very chair she’d been planning to nap on, is a small child. he can’t be more than four or five, and he’s chatting up a storm while henry smiles bemusedly at him from the bed. he’s always been an early riser like regina, even here in the hospital (“there’s just nothing to _do_ here, mom”), and – wait, who is this child again?

he’s certainly not a patient; he looks too well, for one, and for another, instead of a hospital gown he’s dressed like he’s about to go camping, all green and nude hues, and regina could almost swear if she touched a hand to those unruly brown curls a leaf would fall right out of them.

“does this child…belong to someone?” she asks out loud, to nobody in particular.

“i’m so terribly sorry,” comes a voice from behind her, as though he’s just been summoned. the voice sounds british, she thinks, and she’s just tired enough that she doesn’t question it, turning around to give this clearly very irresponsible parent a piece of her mind.

“we were visiting a family friend next door and then he just – took off,” continues the voice. “said he wanted to visit all the other sick children to see if they needed any assistance from him.”

regina blinks. the voice, as her luck would have it today, is not only british but blue-eyed and, well, almost alarmingly handsome, despite the sheepish look he’s giving her now.

“i see,” is all she says.

he has the audacity to smile at her, and oh, no, she does not need this today. not his dimples, or his son’s sweet kindness, not today or any day at all for that matter, so she pivots on her heel and leaves him standing there in the hallway.

“morning, mom,” says henry as she walks in, the rueful british man following behind after a beat.

“morning, sweetheart.” she crosses over to kiss him on the forehead. “i see you made a new friend.”

“so did you!” says henry, eyes on the guy as he bends over to gently chide his son for barging in uninvited. “hi,” he says, before regina has a chance to correct him. “i’m henry.”

“henry, it’s very nice to meet you. my name’s robin, robin locksley.” another smile, this one going slightly crooked at one end. “and you’ve already met my troublemaker of a son, roland, who has something he’d like to say to you.”

“i’m sorry, henry,” says roland in a small, bashful voice, averting his gaze to the floor.

“i apologize again,” robin says, very sincerely, turning those blue eyes back on her, “miss…”

“regina,” henry pipes in helpfully, and it’s all she can do not to turn around and glare at him too.

“truly, if there’s anything i can do to make up for it—” robin starts.

“mom looks like she could use some coffee.”

“henry!”

henry only shrugs at her. “am i wrong?”

“perhaps what your mum would like is some peace and quiet,” says robin kindly, and henry’s face falls a little – just a little, but just enough to squeeze at something in regina’s chest, and she sighs, acquiescing.

“some coffee wouldn’t hurt,” she says diplomatically, and it’s worth it for the smile that henry gives her alone.

robin’s smile, on the other hand—

jury’s still out, regina decides, as robin scoops roland up onto his hip.

“shall we?”

“the cafeteria coffee is unpalatable,” she says by way of an answer. “so you would be ill-advised to take me there.”

“oh,” says robin, very seriously, and she tells herself it’s the exhaustion, nothing more, that’s made her feel like this doesn’t have to be such a horrible plan. “i wouldn’t dream of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops my hand slipped :D i'm thinking this will stay an open verse of vignettes, so if there's anything you'd like to see just send me a message or prompt! you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/persnickets) or [tumblr](http://ninzied.tumblr.com).


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